Russia raises Baltic crude loadings on February 1-10 amid dispute over supply contract with Minsk

Urals crude oil loadings from Primorsk and Ust-Luga for February 1-10 were revised upwards by 0.3 million tonnes to 2.0 million tonnes, a provisional schedule seen by Reuters showed on Thursday.

The rise in Baltic exports is driven by an ongoing dispute over oil supply contract terms between Moscow and Minsk, as key Russian suppliers to Belarus plan to divert oil flows from the republic to Russia’s sea ports in February, traders thought.

Urals and Siberian Light loadings from Novorossiisk in the first 10 days of February were revised down by 80,000 tonnes to 760,000 tonnes.

Russian oil giant Lukoil said on Wednesday it has re-routed oil supplies previously intended for Belarus to other destinations, the TASS news agency cited Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov.

The supply of oil from Russia to Belarus was abruptly halted on Jan. 1 with companies including Rosneft, Gazpromneft, Lukoil and Surgutnefgetaz suspending deliveries as Moscow and Minsk argued over contract terms.

Safmar has been the sole Russian oil supplier to refineries in Belarus this month, as Moscow and Minsk have failed to agree on terms of sales for 2020.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)